enormously, as saudi arabia and our other gulf allies would benefit from a more productive, less tense environment in the region. then you take israel even to compare it to taiwan, that issue was bracketed between the two countries, between china and the united states. it was bracketed. you could similarly have something between the united states and iran over the us rail and palestinian issue. but i must come back to this other issue. this is in our strategic interest to come to terms with iran just like china. when mao was in charge, when nixon went to see mao, he had just presided over the killing of over three million chinese. they didn't just have a nuclear weapons program, they had tested nuclear weapons. the interest here is what is in the u.s. national interest. even there this is another critical challenge for the united states. as middle eastern populations become more empowered and have more of a say in each of their countries, they are not going to vote for, they are not going to support a secular, democratic u.s. model for their governance. they're not going to do it. they're not goin